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1001 Wraith Story Hooks

08-21-2018, 04:44 PM

In celebration of Wr20, let's get to 1001 story hooks! Calling all subscribers of the channel, give me your best ideas for a story! (or chapter, I don't care.)

1. A famous person you're a fan of has died recently and became a wraith. You happen to stumble upon them shortly after their reaping, and they have no clue what this is all about. Can you enlighten them?

2. You're forced to watch a fetter, one of your loved ones fall down the path of drug abuse as they attempt to cope in a world without you. They slowly are becoming Quickened as the new drug they've become hooked on is letting them see across the Shroud. Spectres lurk around every corner as your loved ones life slowly or quickly begins to fade. A savior comes in the form of a Stranger from the Skinlands, he says he can offer aid if the Wraith is willing to work for him. Can he really save your loved one before it's to late? Pray the Lord's of Stygia don't find out of your employment.

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3. The love of your life slowly withered and died in front of you. Either through a suicide pact or utter despair, you take your life to be with them. Only, when you cross over, your love is nowhere to be seen. This isn't the Paradise you were promised in life.

Your despair grows again and your Shadow greedily whispers its taunts to push you towards the finality of dissolution. But you won't give up your love without a fight and start looking harder and deeper. If they loved you as much as you loved them, they must be here somewhere . . . Right?

Maybe they passed on to somewhere better (in which case, you might seek Transcendence) or somewhere worse (a jaunt to the Far Shores might be the ticket)? Did they become a drone or a thrall? Did they get taken to the Forges or join a Guild? Or perhaps you've seen someone very much like them riding the storm winds, so you gear up to rescue Spectre Eurydice from the Labyrinth, so that you can Redeem them . . . or be convinced by the sweetness of Oblivion's lullaby yourself.

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4. An old mob boss was a legend in the criminal underworld. Known from his brilliance and ruthlessness, he advanced from a lowly soldier into a ruler of a sprawling drug-trafficking cartel. Plenty of people died because of him: cops, rivals, insubordinate underlings and some unfortunate bystanders. But that was in the past. He is now old and infirm, living the last day of his life with his family.

The Iron Legion is already excited to reap the notorious criminal and put his brilliance to work. But this isn't going to go well with his victims. They want him to get grabbed by the Grim Legion, which at least would give them a shot at avenging their deaths. The best way to ensure this is to get the old criminal killed by violence before he croaks...

This won't be easy. Killing the Quick is a grave violation of Dictum Mortuum. What makes the matter worse, the Iron Legion already expects some foul play. The Shadowlands around the house of the mob boss are heavily patrolled and a Monitor watches him all the time. But some of the angered Grim Legionnaires are pretty influential and managed to scrounge a lot of oboli, making assassination a highly lucrative job.

There are many ways the players can be involved in this scenario. They may be experts hired by the Iron Legions that are supposed to thwart the assassination attempt. They may be assassins themselves. They could be a part of a sting operation performed by the Order of the Unlidded Eye to arrest seditious Guildwraiths hired to do the job. Or Renegades intending to sow discord in the local Necropolis.

Then there is a possibility the mob boss gets killed for reasons completely unrelated with residents of the Shadowlands - by a living relative of one of his victims, for example. Is the Iron Legion going to accept that? Pretty unlikely.

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5. A Renegade comes up to you with plans to unite with the Heretics and destroy the Hierarchy. His plans are obviously going to fail, but is it worth a try anyways? Perhaps the PCs turn him down, but then the rebels win a battle or two, and come back asking you to join again, this time a lot less nicely.